Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Stupid Question

Okay, guys, anyone want to try to answer one of my dumb Bible questions? This one has popped into my head more than once and I'm curious to see if any of you have a good explanation. (I'm sure there is one, but it eludes me.)

If Adam and Eve were husband and wife, and they were the only ones in the Garden, then why were they so concerned about being naked after the Fall? I recognize that they were aware of their spiritual death and nakedness before God, but how does physical nakedness figure into that? The only other person around was God and they tried to cover themselves. But don't you ever pray in the shower? With other people around the potential for sin, lust, and the need for modesty is obvious, but what was up with the original reaction?

Hope this question isn't too PG-13, but I was about to e-mail Brian with it and decided to throw it out here first instead.

5 comments:

Thank you so much for remembering and praying for us today! We were so nervous, but as you told me earlier it went so well! Just 5 hours afterwards she was up running around like nothing had ever happened!!

You know, right now I am reading the book "Bad Girls of the Bible" by Liz Curtis Higgs and the first chapter is about EVE! I am just at the point where she ate of the fruit, so I'll have to let you know if she has any commentary about why they covered up their nakedness. :-)

Leash, they were concerned about being naked because it wasn't until after they had eaten the fruit that they even knew they were naked. God knew they were naked, but until their disobedience, they had no clue. There was no reason to be ashamed before the Fall...they had no clue.

It says "the eyes of both were opened." Well, obviously their physical eyes were already opened since in verse 6 her seeing the tree started the whole problem. (Actually, one could argue that in 2:15, God put Adam in the garden to "keep it" so it was really his fault from the beginning for not keeping the serpent out of the garden.) So having their eyes opened refers to other than physical eyes. It was an "eye opening" realization. They realized only too late their sin. Their consciences were awakened.

As to "naked", I think the idea may have been communicated as "stripped." That is what had happened: they had been stripped of their benefits, their glory, their innocence. Remember that when Moses went up on the mountain, his face shone. Consider that Adam and Eve have been walking with God everyday. That reflection of His glory has been stripped from them. You know the shame you feel when you do something wrong. Consider our first parents feeling that shame and pain of conscience for the first time. Their shame was before God and the angels.

Our first inclination is to hide our sin. To cover it up. That is exactly what they tried to do. They tried to cover themselves. And as foolish as we are when we try to cover our sins and hide them from God, look at how foolish they are trying to hide theirs with fig leaves. As if God would not notice? As if God did not already know? As if this were not part of God's plan from the beginning? (In order to redeem a lost world, the world first had to be lost).

Interestingly, Job 31:33 says, "if I have concealed my transgressions as others do..." If you notice, the footnote reads, "as Adam did." Its referring to this act - trying to conceal their sin by sewing fig leaves.

Then came God. Fear swelled in them as they heard the Presence of God approaching. After pronouncing judgments and salvation, he showed them a better way. Instead of concealing their sin, he dealt with their sin. Instead of hiding it in leaves, he slew one of the creatures and clothed them with its skin. This, of course, figured the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus is first sacrificed, then we are clothed in His righteousness. Their loincloths did not hide much of their nakedness. But God made them coats that would cover them and protect them. Our feeble attempts to hide our sins can't cover much. But God will cloth us with a righteousness that covers it all.